Scott Steinberg, vice president of marketing at Sony, tried to distance the PS3 from the Wii by saying that his company wasn’t trying to convert "senior citizens" into gamers.
His remarks were made to underline Sony’s direction in trying to convince PS2 owners to go over to the PS3 camp rather than trying to appeal to a broader audience.
"And as a brand, Nintendo’s got their thing, and we’re not trying to get the senior citizen group to get into gaming, we’re looking to convert the PS2 owners and the tens of millions of installed base that were playing DVDs and playing games on their PS2, to now play Blu-ray movies and Blu-ray games with their PS3."
To offer a counterpoint, Blu-ray movies have not taken off in popularity as quickly as Sony hoped because of the higher price points, and as for PS3 games, the game library still needs extensive additions and monster hits.
Steinberg also pointed to the PS3’s power as a reason for the game console’s planned success.
"I think that we’re seeing, graphically, PS3 games starting to create some distance and some of the other competitors are going to feel that they’re getting long in the tooth, looking quite dated, because they haven’t created that ten-year vision from a horsepower standpoint."
Presently, there are over 140 million PS2 units worldwide. The PS3 has slightly over 14 million units in the hands of gamers. Steinberg’s dream to convert more PS2 users to ramp up to the PS3, for the most part, is still a dream as the excitement and acceptance for the PlayStation 3 has not been as high as its predecessor.
Bottom line? Many PS2 owners don’t see the need to buy the PS3 until they see more games and value in the machine.
Your move, Sony.
[via GamesIndustry]
